Protocol Magi :ORIGIN / Episode 12

The Girl in Silver Light is the eleventh episode of Protocol Magi :ORIGIN.

Characters

 * Mashiro Mitsu
 * Nakajima Shiori / Aubade
 * Oshiro Hanako / Hyacinth
 * Abe Kira / Solstice
 * Hikawa Naomi / Numina
 * Aoyama Anna / Nimbus
 * Minami Mio / Métier
 * Yomino Mizuki
 * Shitto (mentioned)
 * Kyoei
 * Pandora (mentioned)
 * Aikawa Fuuko (mentioned)
 * Hikawa Yuki (mentioned)
 * Shopkeep Hanegawa
 * White Ghost (mentioned)

Episode
“First off,” Hanako spoke in between her bouts of giggles, “I am so, so sorry for that.” “Nah,” Naomi replied, in a similar state herself, “you couldn’t have known that your baking could’ve caused all of that!” “But still,” Hanako continued, “a barricade?!” “Yep,” Naomi sipped on her oreo-flavoured milkshake with a good natured smile. “What can I say? My family’s crazy!” Hanako shook her head in bemusement. “I’m more and more convinced every time you tell a story.”

“Speaking of stolen goods,” Naomi asked after their merriment died down a bit, “I heard from Aikawa-san that the cooking club had to fend off another thief.”

Which, unsurprisingly, easily made Hanako let out another string of chuckles. “Yeah, uh,” she spoke, “Mitsu wanted to sample some of the stuff we had been making.” “...I’m sorry,” Naomi spoke after catching her breath, “but when doesn’t she? I mean, you have got to agree, it happens way too often!” “Tell me about it,” Hanako replied, “the others have just kind of given up on trying to fend her off, so they just send her straight over to where I’m working.” “Isn’t that kinda’...” “Bonkers? Too much? Yeah”, the redhead spoke, “but I mean, it does make things livelier in the kitchen, so that’s nice.” “I mean, to each their own, I suppose, but I know for sure the others music club members would have practically torn their hair out if it’d have happened to us,” Naomi spoke.

“I am not surprised,” Hanako smiled, distractedly kicking at a loose stone on the street they were walking down. Some of the members in Naomi’s club were rather well known for hating interruptions. “How far have you gotten on that current project?” “Oh,” Naomi laughed. “It’s chaos. Fun, but chaotic. We still haven’t decided on which songs to play - or if we should create our own this time - so club meetings are… interesting.” “Don’t you have a deadline regarding that next week though?” “Yeah,” Naomi spoke, stretching her arms over her head (albeit the guitar case on her back did make that slightly difficult). “But I’m not worried. We’ve had slumps like this before, and we’ve always pulled through. The problem isn’t that we don’t have anything to play; it’s the opposite. We have too many songs we want to play.”

The two arrived at a small store tucked between two much larger buildings, and the bell rang as they entered. Instruments of all conceivable sorts decorated the walls, various equipment and accessories were neatly placed by price tags in the shelves, and on a low volume, @STaR’s Misete Brand New Sky played through the speakers. “And suddenly,” Hanako teased. “Why this is your favourite shop becomes abundantly clear.” “Definitely”, Naomi played along. “Good day, Hanegawa-san,” she greeted the elderly man who was in charge of the small shop.

“Aah, Hikawa-chan” he looked up from the binders he was going over. “Here for new strings again?” “Yeah.” “Dear me, at the rate you’re using them up, you really oughta’ see if you can get the more expensive sorts that Hisaco retails.” “I know,” Naomi replied. “I prefer these ones, though. School has the more durable ones, but the sound isn’t of the same quality, in my opinion.” “Well, I can’t say I am complaining”, the man spoke as he took the two packets of extra strings and pushed a couple numbers into the cash register, “these parts tend to get rather dull from time to time so a regular young face really brightens up the area, y’know?” Naomi laughed. “You’re just saying that so I’ll come by and buy more things.”

“Guilty as charged,” he spoke, handing back the change and the two packets. “You stopping by your mother’s on your way back?” Naomi shook her head. “Mom’s working in the ER today, and Yuki is with my grandparents, so there’s no reason to. Plus, I’m not alone.”

Back in her usual room, Kyoei was at the windowsill, unmoving. She wasn’t one to be scared. Of anything. Of course she wasn’t; she was the most powerful in this forsaken place, so why should she? What a ridiculous idea. Utterly ridiculous.

Then again, Pandora of all people had shown clear agitation – the leader of the Messengers made it a point to always keep emotions far from… well, everything. And today, when Pandora’s face hadn’t been as blank as the surface of a crystal pond, several of the Messengers were undeniably shaken.

Kyoei had not been one of those Messengers. No. Definitely not. What she had for their leader was not anything other than a slight bit of respect; given who was the creator and who was the created. But Kyoei wasn’t scared. And she definitely wasn’t avoiding the other Messengers to not get called out by them for it either. Nope. Not at all.

She was simply staying in her room, looking out at the bleak wasteland and dark sky through the window. Passing time, or waiting, perhaps. If anyone asked, she’d be able to answer “for orders from Pandora-sama”. She wasn’t hiding; if anything, she was at the place where she’d be most easily found.

But there was no one who would ask. Shitto was gone.

Face contorting at the painful reminder, Kyoei glared out over the deserted plains, but there was no-one to glare at either. “Damn you, Shitto,” she muttered. “Why did you have to go and get yourself killed? You idiot.”

So, she returned to what she had been doing; nothing, or waiting. She wasn’t quite sure which it was.

Mitsu, on her end, was also in town. She had tried to get Shiori or Kira to come along, but the pair of them were both occupied, and neither Anna nor Mio had answered her text message. She wasn’t sure where Hanako or Naomi were either, but being alone wasn’t bad either. It was easier for her to actually focus on her research and notice things she otherwise might have not, if she had to explain everything she did to them.

She was sipping on a cup of bubble tea (the reason she - very rudely - had been kicked out of the library), reading over the notes she had gathered for the day. The section titled “Potential Magi History!!!” was really filling out nicely; there were some history on the ruins of Teriff themselves that she had recently added to her collection, but most of it was on the religion. Sure, she knew most of it was very likely tall tales, and there were no images (and very little other evidence), but there were texts that had been found regarding certain individuals that, depending on the source, were either described as reincarnated deities or gifted with inhuman powers by said gods. The people of Teriff didn’t have the science or understanding of the world to explain the phenomenon (not that Mitsu had either… but she was working on it!), so a Magical Girl in their society could very well have been perceived as a godly power. It made sense in a way! Plus, Mitsu knew without a doubt that White Ghost had existed in the past, which meant that the current Magical Girls were not the first, which also begged the question if White Ghost was even the first or if there were others before her. It wouldn’t be surprising.

She rounded a corner, and noticed two familiar heads leaving a small shop. “Hanako! Naomi!” she called, rushing up to them. “What’re you guys doing here?” After greeting her as well, the two shared a look and amused smiles before Naomi spoke, indicating the shop they just left. “Not a lot; I just got a couple new strings for my guitar.” “...Huh, there’s a store here. I had never noticed.”

“It’s been here for years. A lot of people don’t frequent here, because it doesn’t really stand out, but I like it.” “... Huh,” Mitsu spoke.

“What were you doing, Mitsu?” Hanako asked. “Oh,” Mitsu spoke, holding up her notebook, “the usual, y’know. I actually think I may have found some very plausible connections between the magical girls and Teriff!” “Oh, really?” Naomi asked with a smile, even if she had a good idea already. “What’d you find?” Mitsu grinned. “Well, nothing.” “...Didn’t you just say-..”

“Nothing, if you count the possibility that there have been magical girls on this planet for as long as there have been people as ‘nothing’, then yeah,” Mitsu spoke, “I have found nothing.”

Speechless, the other two stared at her. “What?” she spoke with little remorse, knowing the exact reason for their thoroughly unimpressed expressions. “Mits-...” “Wha-..”

“I know,” Mitsu laughed. “I’m horrible.” “No,” Naomi spoke, “not at all, it just sounds more like something Kira would say.”

“So you’re saying Kira is horrible!” “No, of course not-...” “Mitsu,” Hanako spoke after a moment, “stop putting words in other people's’ mouths.”

“Sorry, sorry,” Mitsu waved off with a laugh. “I guess I’ve just been stuck reading with no social interaction for so long that my social etiquette has completely dwindled. But seriously, did you guys know the library dislikes bubble tea? They kicked me out!” “That’s unfortunate, but they most likely had some reason,” Naomi spoke, “but Mitsu, how come you’re alone? You usually try to get someone to come along with you when you go into town.” “Well, Shiori was going to study, and apparently the skating rink has re-opened again, so Kira wanted to be there for that. Anna and Mio didn’t answer, and you two were MIA as well, so, I mean, there’s not much I can do,” Mitsu answered, “‘sides, this is Magical Girl business! It’s important, so I can’t just postpone it!”

The fact that Mitsu’s definition of ‘important’ differed greatly from most others was already as clear as day, but neither of the two elder girls were going to comment on that; they’d never get anywhere with the discussion, and if the topic made Mitsu happy, they weren’t going to stop her. Unless she put herself in harm's way. Again.

“Well,” Mitsu spoke after a moment. “What are you guys going to do now? I was kind of thinking of heading back home, I’ve got some more information that I can now put on my wall.” “Your wall?” Hanako asked. “Yeah, I’m putting the most vital - okay, not most vital, because someone might see it, so the vital info I store in my notebook and head solely - information on my wall. Y’know, cork board style?” “Like from every procedural crime drama ever? With red strings and all?” “Yeah,” Mitsu grinned. “It actually helps!”

Naomi nodded, “yeah, she does. Called Aubade a jerk on it.” “She is!” “...What did Shiori say when she saw that?” Hanako asked, before realizing what she said, and hoping for dear life that Mitsu hadn’t caught the slip-up. Judging by Naomi’s reaction, however, she had.

Mitsu tilted her head to the side. “...Nothing really? She doesn’t care about it. Dad was actually the most upset about it thinking I had stapled things to the wall and ruined the wallpaper, but I’ve just used powertac adhesive. You know the kind that you can easily pull off?” Hanako let out an inaudible sigh of relief. “Well, that’s good, at least. Your dad didn’t oppose you literally and figuratively chasing after the Magi?” Mitsu thought back for a moment, “no. Not really? I mean, he was like, ‘as long as you don’t get hurt, go for it’.” “...Mitsu, you’ve had to be pulled out of the way of one of those monsters more than once. You could very easily get hurt!” Hanako spoke. “I know,” Mitsu replied with a grin. “But I haven’t so far. Plus, I have a contingency plan for it as well, so you don’t need to worry!” “...Which is..?” Hanako spoke, “please don’t tell me-..”

“It’s a secret! I can’t tell you all my secrets!” Mitsu grinned, before her eyes caught sight of the clock inside the music store through the window, and instantly springing into action. “Welp, gotta blast, guys! I’ve gotta go get this information to my room before I start to forget, and my next bus leaves in like 2 minutes!” And she ran off.

The two remaining followed her departure with their eyes before Hanako spoke, “her contingency plan is becoming a Magi, isn’t it?” “It seems like it,” Naomi spoke with a slight frown. “She most likely won’t though. I can’t help but feel like if she was meant for it, she would’ve already awakened by now.” “Yeah,” Hanako grimashed. “It’s her dream, but all things considered, it would be better for her to not become one. It would have been better for all of us if we didn’t have had to become Magi in the first place.” Naomi looked at her friend with apprehension for a moment, contemplating her words. “While I understand where you’re coming from,” she spoke. “If there had been no threat from the Messengers, we would never have had to transform. But personally, I believe that it’s for the better. There is no guarantee that the Messengers or some other threat could have appeared if we hadn’t. People would either have become sitting ducks with no means of defense, or someone else would have had to take up that mantle. The way things are now, I know I can help. I know I have the power to do so.”

The green-haired girl smiled slightly. “And while I know that with great power comes great responsibility, personally, having to sit by and being unable to do anything to help would have been worse. ”  “I mean, I do understand you, but I still feel like our end goal should be to not be needed anymore,” Hanako agreed. Naomi nodded. “Of course, that's the ideal end result. But I'm going to keep going,” she spoke, “even if all this comes to an end. I won't sign away these… powers, unless I have to. It may just be me, but I don't want us to be without defenses if we were to need them.” She gazed up at the sky above - mostly clear, but with a smattering of clouds.

Hanako regarded her out of the corner of her eye. She understood Naomi's reasoning, but also saw where their ideologies differed. “Yeah. I'd like it to never come to pass though.” “Yeah,” Naomi smiled.

Mitsu glared (as much as she could with her current pressing need for oxygen) at the retreating bus. 15 seconds. What bus can't wait 15 seconds? “I'm working on solving the biggest question since the big bang and THIS IS HOW YOU TREAT ME?!” she yelled at no one in particular after catching her breath a bit more, before kicking at the ground muttering about an ungrateful universe.

Kyoei leisurely tossed a black pearl in her hand staring at the area below. After one too many minutes sitting in that room just staring and waiting for a signal to do something, it had come. It hadn't been an order per se, but no one in their right mind would have stayed at the cacophony of sounds that had suddenly broken out of the deeper parts of the large mansion-like building in that abyss - of course, it wasn't that Kyoei wouldn't have been able to handle, that was ridiculous - but it was simply… beneath the pink-green-haired Messenger. And the Shade was just in case she felt the urge to hackle those damned vermin in combat skirts. Or just to let off some steam.

And perhaps that was what she needed right now. Just relax and watch the show, and just ignore the irritatingly persistent part of Shitto that seemed to cling desperately to whatever of Kyoei's conscience it could. It wasn't as if the place she'd go back to wasn't crawling with the fragments of fear anyways. Yeah, that sounded nice.

Mitsu's ears perked up at the sound of the next bus approaching. Quickly checking the route number, she internally cheered. It was the right one! Then something small and black crashed into the construction road block only meters away from the bus, and upon the implosion followed quickly by rapid expansion of the newly created Shade, caused the bus to swerve and crash into the (thankfully empty) bus stop two rows over from where Mitsu stood.

Said girl was torn between glee - she had gotten so much potential info on the magical girls already today, and now she'd get to see a fight too? Score! - and annoyance - she already had so much stuff she needed to remember and catalogue into her growing pile of magical girl knowledge, and now she had to cram a fight into what she already needed to remember until she got home (because really, the alternative of not watching the fight wasn’t an alternative)? And that had also been her next bus. The next one wasn’t until an hour later!

During the short time it had taken for those thoughts to pass through her head, the Shade had seemed to get its bearings and was advancing towards the bus that had toppled to the side and trapped the people inside. Mitsu couldn’t just stand by and watch them get crushed could she?

Especially not if it would mean that she could become a magical girl.

“Hey!” she yelled to the large monster. “Ugly, yeah! Here I am, you dull creature!” It didn’t seem to care about one girl when it had a much larger amount trapped right in front of it.

“...Okay,” Mitsu muttered, “Plan B, then. HEY BUDDY! GUESS WHO KNOWS THE MAGICAL GIRLS AND WHO WILL SMASH YOUR FACE IN IN 3 SECO-...”

As if on cue, a red blur sped past Mitsu, borderline knocking her over in the process, and with a twirl planted a iron-clad right heel into the center of the Shade, pushing it back several meters. “..nds”, Mitsu finished, shocked. She knew the Magical Girls would show up sooner or later, but what was that timing?

Hyacinth smoothly recovered from the mana-enhanced kick, somersaulting off it’s staggered form just in time for Numina to vault over the Shade (placing a kick of her own for good measure), landing by the tipped over bus, quickly inspecting it and giving it a trying push. “I think we’d be able to lift it,” the green haired magi called to her teammate. “Both of us, at least!” “Let’s wait for Aubade and the others, then!” Hyacinth replied, ducking underneath the legs of the large monster. “Yeah!” Numina called back, before looking to the people inside the bus. Mouthing “sorry”, she smiled apologetically, and tapped her wrist twice before giving an OK sign.

Then a cloud of green sparkles formed around her hands, and boosted by her powers, she jumped into the sky, dodging the Shade’s lunge.

Hyacinth the impending danger before her comrade. “Numina!” she called, “bystanders!” The still airborne Magi looked down, a sudden look of fear washing over her face.

In its attempt to keep the green haired Magi within its view, the Shade stumbled backwards - right towards a certain maniac.

Before neither Magi could react, the Shade toppled over in a cloud of smoke.

When it faded, they saw its splayed on the asphalt, its equivalent of a spine where the brunet had been moments prior. The horror on their faces washed away the moment they heard a familiar, irritated, voice from underneath the Shade.

“I swear, one of these days, your suicidal tendencies will succeed. Is that what you want?” “Firstly,” Mitsu responded, “I am not suicidal! And yeah, I want to become a Magical Gi-..” her words trailed off in a screech as the Shade that had been slightly elevated fell to the ground and the twintailed Magi had grabbed Mitsu by the waist and escaped from underneath the monster, hightailing it over a couple buildings.

Not surprised in the slightest that Aubade hadn’t let Mitsu finish that thought, Hyacinth bounded over to the bus, her hands and legs gaining a red glow, and Numina quickly joined her, knocking at the window to get the people inside to realize what was happening. The two Magi quickly grasped the metal structure, pulling upwards to right the toppled vehicle. Their efforts eased when a yellow blur - aided by her ability - suddenly stood by the other side, helping cushion the fall. “Yo!” Nimbus grinned.

The Shade had by now finally gotten its bearings back about it, and righted itself, seemingly not realizing the numerical disadvantage had grown. Or perhaps it had, but didn’t deem it worthy of a change of tactics. It went to swipe at the three Magi by the bus, but interference in the form of the final two Magi appeared. Métier ducked underneath it’s punch, planting her feet firmly and misdirected the monster’s punch by impacting the appendage with the side of her hand - which then released a short burst of pink light - only for Solstice to grab the Shade’s now off-course part, and with an overhead pull, sent it up into the air.

It was on the way back down when a large, blue ripple formed underneath it, followed by two streams of blue light encircled the creature, seeping into it.

“Aubade, Cleansing”, their leader’s voice reached them, and the black pearl crackled to dust as the light faded.

After a moment of silence followed.

“Wow,” Nimbus spoke, “these fights are really becoming too eas-...” “Don’t finish that thought”, Aubade interrupted with a frown. “Don’t ever finish that thought. The moment we get lax, is the moment we lose.”

Nimbus’s relaxed stance stiffened slightly, not expecting the edge in the leader’s voice. “Uh, sure..?” “Where’d you drop off Unicorn?” Hyacinth asked, having retreated from the bus - which Numina and Métier were now prying open to help the people inside out. “She’s bound to come back rather soon.” “A couple blocks that way” Aubade nodded her head in the direction. “You guys good over there?”

“Yeah,” Métier called as people started filing out of the bus with the help and apologies from Numina. “I think we’re good.” Aubade nodded. “We need to leave. Authorities will be here soon.”

The other colour-coded heroes nodded after a moment, before they all leapt as one over to a roof out of sight.

“So, that was a thing,” Solstice commented. “Anyone see the Messenger?” “We didn’t,” Numina spoke, to which Hyacinth nodded. “I don’t think they’re still here though,” the redhead added. “I can’t sense anything out of the ordinary right now, so I think whoever it was, may have left.”

“That’s a good thing, right?” “For now,” Hyacinth answered the youngest member. “It does beg to question their motive, though.” “We’ve had the Messengerless Shade fights before though,” Nimbus spoke. “Why can’t this be like one of those times?”

“Sure,” Aubade spoke, “but we need to consider the possibilities. They’ve just lost one of their Messengers. We don’t know how that affects their plans and what they’re going to do from here on out.” Hyacinth nodded. “Yeah. It’s the first time that has happened so far, and we have no idea how they’re going to react. Let’s just be on our guard for a-...” She trailed off, and spun on her heel, eyes narrowed in confusion and apprehension.

Her sudden change in behaviour instantly alerted the other six, and they quickly came to see what had set off the crimson Magi’s radar. Had it not been darkening already, it may have been less obvious, but even then, it wasn’t a difficult thing to spot. “It”, being “her”. An unconscious girl, veiled in a soft, silver glow was slowly getting lowered to the floor they stood on.

This was not a sight the seven superpowered beings had expected, and it instantly set their minds reeling. Who was this girl? It couldn’t be a coincidence, so why did she appear before them? Why now?

Hyacinth, being the only one able to tell the silvery light wasn’t originating from the girl scanned the surroundings for whatever it could be causing it, but found nothing.

And what were they going to do with her? They couldn’t exactly drop her off at a hospital - it’d beg all sorts of questions that they would not be able to answer, and it’d also limit their ability to ask her what they wanted, needed, to know.

While the Magi were contemplating what they were going to do about the unconscious girl, a figure stood higher up on one of the other buildings, cloaked from the surroundings. As the unconscious girl touched the floor, the silver glow faded from both her, and the right hand of the figure. The figure remained for but a moment longer, before vanishing entirely from the scene.

Trivia

 * This episode marks the debut of Yomino Mizuki.